Aesthetically Concealed Key Cabinet

ABSTRACT

An aesthetically concealed key cabinet integrated into a kitchen or other household cabinet system and comprising a back wall, two side walls, a top, a bottom and a door. The side walls are a contiguous extension of the front and back of a cabinet in the cabinet system and the top and bottom are a contiguous extension of the top and bottom of a cabinet in the cabinet system. The back wall is coincident with the side wall of a cabinet in the cabinet system. Key holding devices are appended to the back wall. The door matches the decorative design of the cabinet door fronts of the cabinet system but neither a door knob nor a hinge nor other hardware is visible when the door is closed thereby providing a concealed cabinet for storing household keys and key chains.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention regards a concealed key cabinet, fully integratedinto a common kitchen cabinet system or other installed cabinet systemand containing hooks or other means for retaining and organizing, andthereby inconspicuously storing, a plurality of keys or key chains withkeys.

2. Background of the Invention

Keys are often hard to find in the household. Placed in drawers in anunorganized fashion, it is often difficult to see which keys are presentand which keys are missing. Furthermore, keys in table top elevationdrawers or on countertops may be accessible to small children who maymisplace them. Keys and key chains that are simply stored on countertopsare also unsightly.

Conventional, wall mounted key holders are generally too small to holdall the keys for a household in a manner both convenient and so that allthe keys are visible. When such wall mounted holders are big enough tocontain such keys, they tend to look aesthetically unappealing in thehousehold. In particular, large exposed key holding boards tend to havean industrial look, which is generally not desirable in a home.Additionally, when a plurality of keys are stored upon such exposeddevices they tend to look disorganized and therefore, visuallyunappealing.

Large exposed key holding boards also pose a considerable risk ofunauthorized use of the keys by intruders. The more keys displayed inone place, the greater the risk that the keys may be used by persons notauthorized to do so. Intruders, and even authorized visitors may haveeasy access to keys on exposed key holding boards, in obvious keycabinets or keys left on countertops.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore it is the object of the present invention to provide adomestic key cabinet, in particular a key cabinet integrated into akitchen cabinet system or other household cabinet system, which isspacious enough to hold a large number of keys used by the occupants ofthe household, including for example, keys to the residence, vehiclekeys, mail and safety deposit box keys and the like, which is alsoeasily accessible, but which can be closed so that the unsightly keydisplay is not obvious.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a key cabinet thatconceals stored keys from view and which does not conspicuously revealthe location or existence of keys or the location and existence of thekey cabinet when the cabinet door is closed. These and other objects ofinvention are realized by a key cabinet that is aesthetically concealedas a decorative end section of a kitchen or other installed householdcabinet system. As the key cabinet needs to be only a few inches indepth it may be conveniently added to the end section of a set ofkitchen cabinets without excessively adding to the size of the cabinetryor reducing the cabinet space available for other purposes.

It is further advantageous that, in a kitchen cabinet system or othercabinet system comprising door fronts of a particular decorative design,the door of the key cabinet match the decorative door fronts, therebyappearing as a decorative side panel of a conventional kitchen cabinet.The key cabinet door may include hinges similar to any cabinet door, butpreferably no exposed hardware, such as a door knob or hinge is apparentwhen the door is closed. The cabinet requires very little space and canbe easily incorporated into a new kitchen installation, or retrofittedto an already existing installation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other benefits and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing descriptions and accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective side view of a preferred embodiment of the keycabinet according to the invention showing the key cabinet opened;

FIG. 2. is a perspective side view of a preferred embodiment of the keycabinet according to the invention showing the key cabinet closed.

FIG. 3. is a front plan view of a preferred embodiment of the keycabinet according to the invention showing the key cabinet open.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, an aesthetically concealed kitchen cabinetis shown according to the invention. The cabinet is preferentially madeof the same material as the cabinet system to which it is integrated. Asshown in FIG. 1, the cabinet comprises a cabinet back (1), left (2) andright (3) sides, a top (4) and bottom (5) and a door (6). The cabinetback (1) is coincident with the end side panel of the last cabinet inthe cabinet system. The left (2) and right sides (3) of the key cabinetare contiguous extensions of the back panel and the front panel of thelast cabinet in the cabinet system. Similarly the top (4) and bottom (5)of the cabinet are contiguous extensions of the top and bottom of thelast cabinet in the cabinet system.

On the back of the key cabinet are affixed a plurality of key holdingdevices (7), such as hooks, magnetic key holders or the like, which arearranged in a plurality of rows, each row leaving sufficient spacebetween each adjacent row so that the keys or key chains can be hungwithout encroaching upon the keys hung in an adjacent row. Similarly,the hooks are spaced so that keys hung on adjacent hooks can be hungwithout encroaching upon keys hung on adjacent hooks.

The door (6) of the cabinet is configured with hinges (8) to permit thekey cabinet to be conveniently opened. Preferentially, the hinge maycomprise a spring loaded mechanism which holds the door closed when thecontact surfaces of the cabinet and the door are contacting. Thesehinges also preferentially operate to permit the door to be opened bypressing on the side of the door opposite the hinged side permitting thedoor to open slightly and allowing the operator to grasp the door edgeto open it. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 3, simple hinges may beutilized and the door may be held closed by a magnets affixed on theinside of the cabinet (9) which, on closing, contact a metal memberaffixed to the door (10).

Referring to FIG. 2, where the cabinet system compromises cabinets witha specified design for the cabinet door fronts (11), the door (6) of thekey cabinet is preferentially constructed to match or be similar to thecabinet door fronts. No hardware, such as hinges or a door knob, isconspicuous on the key cabinet door when the key cabinet door is closed.

1. A key cabinet in a system of cabinets, said key cabinet comprising: aback wall, said back wall being coincident with the outer side wall ofone cabinet in said cabinet system; a first side wall and a second sidewall, said first side wall being a contiguous extension of the back wallof said one cabinet in said cabinet system and said second side wallbeing a contiguous extension of the front of said one cabinet in saidcabinet system; a top and a bottom, said top being a contiguousextension of the top of said one cabinet in said cabinet system and saidbottom being a contiguous extension of the bottom of said one cabinet insaid cabinet system; a door, said door being affixed by at least onehinge to either of said first side, said second side, said top or saidbottom, and; at least one key holding means affixed to said back wall.2. The key cabinet in claim 1 wherein said cabinet system comprisescabinet door fronts of a particular decorative design and wherein saiddoor matches said decorative design of said cabinet door fronts.
 3. Thekey cabinet in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said key holding meanscomprises a hook.
 4. The key cabinet in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein saidkey holding means comprises a magnet.
 5. The key cabinet in claim 1 orclaim 2 wherein said hinge is not visible when said door is closed. 6.The key cabinet in claim 1, claim 2, claim 3, or claim 4 wherein nohardware affixed to said door is visible when said door is closed.